If this is your first visit, be sure to
check out the FAQ by clicking the
link above. You may have to register
before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages,
select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below.

Rutgers and Maryland to the Big Ten?

The University of Maryland is in serious negotiations to join the Big Ten Conference, sources told ESPN on Saturday.

If Maryland goes from the ACC to the Big Ten, Rutgers of the Big East is expected to follow suit. The addition of Maryland and Rutgers would give the Big Ten 14 members as the league gears toward negotiations on a new media rights deal when its first-tier rights expire in 2017.

No date has been set for a potential announcement, though it could come as soon as Monday.

Maryland president Wallace Loh has been handling the conversation with Big Ten officials, a source said.

One source told ESPN that Maryland athletic director Kevin Anderson has informed key staffers that there are ongoing discussions.

One stumbling block for Maryland could be finances. Maryland's athletic department has recently dropped sports because of budget issues, and the ACC recently raised its exit fee to $50 million.

Maryland and Florida State were the only two of 12 schools that voted against a $50 million exit fee out of the ACC, but lost the vote. Loh was quoted in the Washington Post on Sept. 13 that he was against the hike from $20-50 million on "legal and philosophical" grounds. The Post reported that Loh said Maryland planned to be in the ACC for years to come.

A source told ESPN that the Big Ten has been itchy about further expansion since Notre Dame made its official move to the ACC two months ago in all sports other than football. The source said the Big Ten can justify Maryland and then possibly Rutgers since they are all contiguous states to the Big Ten footprint.

One source told ESPN that Loh and Anderson don't have ACC ties so there wouldn't be a strong emotional pull to stay with the conference. Loh is a former provost at Big Ten member Iowa.

However, the chancellor of the Maryland system, Brit Kirwan, has been on the Maryland campus for 30 years and has strong affiliation for being a charter member of the ACC, according to a source.

One source with Maryland ties said there is a strong affinity for the ACC and making the move to the Big Ten may not be a unanimous decision among the school's board of regents.

Big Ten officials did not respond to numerous requests seeking comment. ACC officials also did not respond to a request for comment. Maryland officials would not comment when asked after the Terps' football game on Saturday.

If these dominoes were to fall then Connecticut would emerge as the most likely candidate to fill Maryland's spot in the ACC. The ACC will be at 14 members in 2013-14 with the addition of the Big East's Pittsburgh and Syracuse and 15 in all sports except football when Notre Dame joins, which could be as early as fall 2013.

Rutgers' exit fee from the Big East would be less expensive. The buyout to leave the Big East is $10 million if the school provides 27 months' notice. However, the league has allowed West Virginia, Pitt and Syracuse to leave the league without honoring the 27-month requirement by paying a higher exit fee.

The Scarlet Knights would be the ninth member of the Big East to leave or announce they were leaving the league since 2004. Six of those defections have occurred in the past year -- Pitt, Syracuse and Notre Dame to the ACC; TCU and West Virginia to the Big 12 and Rutgers to the Big Ten.

The Scarlet Knights were charter members of the Big East's football conference, which began in 1991.

Maryland also was a charter member of the ACC, one of eight schools to start the league in 1953.

Both Maryland and Rutgers are members of the AAU (Association of American Universities), something vital to Big Ten presidents.

The addition of the two East Coast schools would dramatically stretch the Big Ten's footprint. With Maryland holding down the Beltway, Rutgers offering up the New York market and Penn State's strong eastern ties, the league has a solid anchor in the mid-Atlantic states.

Maryland and Rutgers also would make the nation's richest conference even wealthier. Last season, each Big Ten school received a record $24.6 million in shared revenue, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported. One source said the success of the Big Ten Network is an intriguing factor for Maryland.

If the two schools join the Big Ten, it would reopen what many thought was a stable time in the conference realignment process. The Big Ten joins the SEC as a legitimate 14-team superconference, while the ACC drops to 13 football members and likely will pursue another all-sports member to get back to 14.

ACC commissioner John Swofford said at ACC media day and during the news conference when the Irish were added that the league wouldn't go beyond 14 football members and could easily exist with an odd number (15) in men's and women's basketball. But if a football member were to leave, the ACC would likely have to make a move.

Maryland, meanwhile, will become only the second school to leave the ACC. South Carolina was the other, leaving in 1971 to become an independent. The Gamecocks are now members of the SEC.

In the past few years, the nation's top five conferences -- SEC, Big Ten, Big 12, Pac-12 and ACC -- have added a total of 10 new members, causing a domino effect throughout the college landscape from coast to coast.

Rutger's footballs pretty solid, no reason they couldn't be a long term second tier Big Ten school. Maryland basketball's a sleeping giant, can't say I'd be too excited about Mark Turgeon being able to recruit Indiana easier.

Rutger's footballs pretty solid, no reason they couldn't be a long term second tier Big Ten school. Maryland basketball's a sleeping giant, can't say I'd be too excited about Mark Turgeon being able to recruit Indiana easier.

This kind of thing and others have made college sports completely unwatchable for me.... Is their a more corrupt institution (other than IU) that the NCAA??

Re: Rutgers and Maryland to the Big Ten?

I am for it, Rutgers would add a top 25 team to be B1G, which would make the conference stronger, Maryland adds a team that IU can beat, and it on the rise like IU, they would be my 2nd favorite team in bball, Maryland is a good team Rutgers brings nothing

Re: Rutgers and Maryland to the Big Ten?

Obviously this whole thing is driven by athletics, but they're both great fits academically as well. Both are strong research institutions. They probably bring more from an academic perspective than athletically really.

Plus it gives Delaney something of an excuse when he pushes for the conference championship game/tourney to be in NYC.

Re: Rutgers and Maryland to the Big Ten?

I hate this. I was fine with adding Nebraska but conferences shouldn't have more than 12 teams. If you think basketball scheduling is unbalanced now, wait until you start playing more teams once than twice. Traditional rivalries will be destroyed all for the sake of putting more money in the commissioner's pocket.

Conference expansion has become my biggest pet-peeve in college athletics. Stupid, money-driven idea that will totally collapse in about 20 years.

Under Armour founder and Maryland uber-booster Kevin Plank is "100 percent" behind the Terrapins moving from the ACC to the Big Ten, a regent told ESPN on Sunday.

The University System of Maryland's Board of Regents will meet at 9 a.m. Monday to vote whether to accept an invitation to join the Big Ten Conference, a source told ESPN.

Plank is "heavily involved behind the scenes with board members," a regent told ESPN on Sunday. The source added that several of the 17 board members were "miffed" that they were not included in the process until the late stages, so the vote could be close.

Plank declined comment at Saturday's game but insisted he is not involved in Maryland's athletic decisions.

If Maryland goes from the ACC to the Big Ten, Rutgers of the Big East will then follow suit, a source said. The Rutgers announcement could be as early as Tuesday, sources said. The addition of Maryland and Rutgers would give the Big Ten 14 members as the league gears toward negotiations on a new media rights deal when its first-tier rights expire in 2017.

There is not a consensus among Maryland athletic department officials, a source said. The school is leaning toward the move but there is still time for the school to decide to stay in the ACC, according to the source.

Maryland president Wallace Loh has been handling the conversation with Big Ten officials, a source said. One stumbling block for Maryland could be finances. Maryland's athletic department has recently dropped sports because of budget issues, and the ACC recently raised its exit fee to $50 million.

Maryland and Florida State were the only two of 12 schools that voted against a $50 million exit fee out of the ACC, but lost the vote. Loh was quoted in the Washington Post on Sept. 13 that he was against the hike from $20-50 million on "legal and philosophical" grounds. The Post reported that Loh said Maryland planned to be in the ACC for years to come.

A source told ESPN that the Big Ten has been itchy about further expansion since Notre Dame made its official move to the ACC two months ago in all sports other than football. The source said the Big Ten can justify Maryland and then possibly Rutgers since they are all contiguous states to the Big Ten footprint.

One source told ESPN that Loh and athletic director Kevin Anderson don't have ACC ties so there wouldn't be a strong emotional pull to stay with the conference. Loh is a former provost at Big Ten member Iowa. However, the chancellor of the Maryland system, Brit Kirwan, has been on the Maryland campus for 30 years and has strong affiliation for being a charter member of the ACC, according to a source. One source with Maryland ties said there is a strong affinity for the ACC and making the move to the Big Ten may not be a unanimous decision among the school's board of regents.

Rutgers' exit fee from the Big East would be less expensive. The buyout to leave the Big East is $10 million if the school provides 27 months' notice. However, the league has allowed West Virginia, Pitt and Syracuse to leave the league without honoring the 27-month requirement by paying a higher exit fee. The addition of the two East Coast schools would dramatically stretch the Big Ten's footprint.

With Maryland holding down the Beltway, Rutgers offering up the New York market and Penn State's strong eastern ties, the league has a solid anchor in the mid-Atlantic states. Maryland and Rutgers also would make the nation's richest conference even wealthier.

Last season, each Big Ten school received a record $24.6 million in shared revenue, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported. One source said the success of the Big Ten Network is an intriguing factor for Maryland.

If the two schools join the Big Ten, it would reopen what many thought was a stable time in the conference realignment process. The Big Ten joins the SEC as a legitimate 14-team superconference, while the ACC drops to 13 football members and likely will pursue another all-sports member to get back to 14. Connecticut would emerge as the most likely candidate to fill Maryland's spot in the ACC.

Dana O'Neil, Brett McMurphy and Andy Katz are college sports reporters for ESPN.

Take me out to the black, tell 'em I ain't coming back. Burn the land and boil the sea, you can't take the sky from me.

Re: Rutgers and Maryland to the Big Ten?

You gotta admit, us snatching an ACC team and Delaney basically saying "$50 million exit fee? you know what conference this is?" is pretty awesome. Think about what that's gotta make the ACC higher ups think.

The end game's still 16, eventually. No one really likes that from an athletic standpoint, but it'll bring huge amounts of money to Purdue and IU with the way the conference's revenue sharing is. The conference's media rights are up for bids in 2017, that's the only major football TV contract available until like 2025. Fox is trying to buy the YES network, Fox owns 51% of the BTN. And when it goes to 16 teams is when we add another brand name program. Not every member of a conference is supposed to be a powerhouse. This is the future of conferences, either adapt or be left behind. Delaney's pretty much been ahead of the curve the whole way.

Re: Rutgers and Maryland to the Big Ten?

I would much rather pick up Maryland and Virginia than Rutgers. Also the idea that we needed the NYC market is a myth IMO, you can already get the BTN in NYC and according to my buddy who lives in NYC no one really views Rutgers as an NYC school they are firmly Jersey. The B1G really missed it when they didn't go hard for Syracuse IMO.

Re: Rutgers and Maryland to the Big Ten?

Also, I was looking over the list of AAU schools, it seems inevitable that the B1G will go for 16. Kansas seems to make a lot of sense. And then I think I would push hard for UNC. Both AAU members, both strong bball programs with the possibility to maybe improve the mid level talent of the football programs especially UNC.

Plus what conference could ever put together a top 5 of bball schools to match the history of UNC, IU, KU, MSU, and OSU? The B1G BBall tourney every year would be an absolute must see on par with any other athletic event and with Rutgers in the fold the B1G can make the case to play it in NYC even if they are not really a NYC school.

Re: Rutgers and Maryland to the Big Ten?

Imagine there will be 3 super conferences in the near future: Pac-10, Big 10, and SEC.

KU and UNC would be my preferred two. We missed the boat on Mizzou in a lot of ways, I would have liked to add them, but they won't leave SEC. Those two conferences (B1G and SEC) can't poach from each other. Pitt will get a lot of pub too.

Re: Rutgers and Maryland to the Big Ten?

UNC and Duke. I bet that's Delaney's dream. And if Notre Dame all of a sudden wants in, with football, he'd find a way to boot someone.

OK I want to play this game, who would you boot for ND in this scenario? We pick UNC and DUke and we're at 16 and they say we won't go over 16, but ND wants in, who gets the boot? I know who I would pick and it is not Purdue and to me it is a really easy choice.